What’s recently happened?
Griffith High School (GHS) has a multitude of spring sports in session, but softball just recently kicked off its 2023 campaign. Last season, the Lady Panthers were 6-5 in conference play and 9-14 overall. This season, the team started off 2-2 with two conference wins already.
With sights set on improvement, the Lady Panthers gained a new player this season, Junior Mariah Green, who is already a captain even though it is her first year at GHS.
“The transition was rough in the beginning with school work and making new friends, but now I’ve adjusted to the environment a lot more,” Green said. “As of now, I really enjoy being at the ‘G’ and love the environment, and can’t wait to spend my senior year here.”
Along with new faces, the Lady Panthers also have many returning seniors, two of which are Reina Nava and Callie Linders. Beginning with Linders, her main focus was limiting mistakes on both offense and defense.
“We’re really looking to make fewer errors, mainly things that are easy to clean up and mistakes that can halt momentum and cause more mistakes,” she said. “We also have been heavily practicing hitting because you can’t win a game without scoring runs, so most of our practices have been focused on these skills.”
Nava touched on the impact they lost from the last class of seniors, some of which had a big impact on her and the team.
“Last year's seniors played the biggest part in leadership last season, they are definitely the biggest loss,” she said. “As a senior now, I learned a lot from them and I carry on everything they taught me everyday.”
Junior captain and three year starter on varsity Kayla Doctor is another one of the Lady Panthers major contributors. As being a part of the team and its culture for three years, she has had many different roles on these teams.
“As my role grew each year I played, I feel I helped the team improve and get better more and more each year,” she said.
This year’s softball team is full of leaders and players that will be looking to make improvements on last season’s record.
What’s coming up?
The GHS Baseball program is one that has had some great history and success in the years prior. Before the 2022 season, the Panthers had won nine straight sectional titles. As of recently, the sectional was realigned and the Panthers streak had finally ended. Presently in 2023, the Panthers are 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in the conference.
Although the season has begun, most of the team and fans of the team are looking forward to the main attraction of the season, which is going down to Crawfordsville for a couple games against different opponents. The Panthers are giving opponents different looks this year, with previously a catcher now a pitcher, Thomas Miller. Miller says it’s all about helping the team.
“It’s always good to have another pitcher on the team, especially with how short handed we are,” he said. “Being able to move players around into different positions allows for players to rest and recover from pitching.”
As well as these games being played down state, senior and leader on the team Nathan Feliciano is looking forward to playing and meeting a new set of teams this year.
“We’re looking towards sectionals, especially with new teams joining this year should be a special one,” he said.
Along with seniors Miller and Feliciano, the Panthers also feature dominant three sport athlete and Senior Connor Cervantes. Cervantes had a great junior year, and has big goals for himself and the team alike.
“I want to lead the team in hits and try to do as much as I can to help us win games,” he said. “I believe the team has plenty of potential but we have to work together and reduce mistakes so we can win against bigger schools.”
With a great group of leaders and high aspirations, the sky's the limit for the Panthers.
Staff spotlight:
Neil Dimos is the GHS Athletic Director (AD) and is one of the faces of the town and the school. Dimos spent his high school days right at GHS. After high school, his next educational endeavor was an undergrad in which he spent one year at Ball State University and three years at Indiana University where his concentration of studies was English/Language Arts and education. Dimos completed his masters at Indiana State University where he was in Administration and Leadership.
According to Dimos, this led him right into his current position as AD.
After graduation, Dimos began teaching at Hammond Gavit High School. During his time at Gavit, he coached Junior Varsity Basketball, Varsity Soccer and Track, and also was Assistant AD.
Dimos said his job is complicated and involves a lot of communication with other schools.
“Myself and the other ADs agree to contracts between different schools for events and other activities both schools partake in,” Dimos said.
Dimos also has great assistance in his job, crediting his Assistant Kelly Greer.
“I have Kelly Greer, who helps me out a lot, she herself has been an athletic director,” Dimos said. “She helps with everything; sponsorships, event management, event applications, running events, and canceling and rescheduling events.”
Dimos says his favorite part of the job is celebrating his student-athletes.
“Student-centered is what I want. If my job is ever not student-centered, then I need to change my job,” he said.
Outside of school and administration, Dimos enjoys family time as well as time spent away from technology and going off the grid.
“I like to camp, I’m a big camper,” he said. “As well as that, I love to spend time with my wife and my daughter.”
Dimos’ activities outside of the workplace also stem from his past experiences as a teacher.
“I was an English and Language Arts teacher, so I love reading and love writing,” Dimos said.
He also likes to travel frequently to Tennessee with his family.
“My wife and I really like going to Tennessee,” Dimos said. “We like hiking the mountains and trails out there as well as unplugging our phones.”
Dimos still resides in the town of Griffith and is a major part of the school’s growth and success.
Student spotlight:
Callie Linders is a senior and a student-athlete at GHS. She plays softball and has been on varsity since freshman year. As well as that, she has been playing since the age of five.
Outside of softball, Linders is in student council, class council, book club, and yearbook, where she is an editor and photographer, something she’s extremely passionate about.
“I really enjoy the photography aspect of the yearbook. It’s definitely my favorite part,” Linders said. “I do quite a bit of photography outside of school, and would like to pursue something with it when I have a career.”
A lot of Linders’ free time is consumed by softball practice and training, but when away from the sport, she enjoys reading and going to the gym. Although some may think her schedule may be overwhelming, Linders says that she tries to keep busy.
“I don’t really ever like to be not busy. I love having something to do,” she said.
Linders is also committed to play softball at Lakeland University, a Division III school located in Wisconsin. What caught her eye was the student-faculty ratio as well as the amount of athletes on campus.
“I really like the idea of smaller classes. As well as that, having so much of the campus population being athletes means that the professors understand your time commitments,” Linders said.
Wisconsin is quite the drive from Griffith, but the coaches have already done a good job at making her feel at home.
“My coaches were really cool and really welcoming. They made me feel like I fit in at the program even though it was my first time meeting everyone,” Linders said.
Linders graduates this year and is heading out to Lakeland University to make her impact on the world.Like this commentReply